PeaceBang

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1. Is it? Because it isn’t entirely true. After all it was directed by an American

   We have American College students living beneath us in Bologna however, who treat the building like it’s a frat house and their neighbours with something akin to imperial disdain. I’ve many Woody Allenesque American friends, so it’s quite a shock to find myself beginning to empathise with European anti-Americanism.

   They wouldn’t dare in England of course. Isn’t Brown University supposed to be a good one? I’m one more 4am away from trying to get them evicted. [Do it! If they lived near the Brown campus in a nice residential neighborhood they wouldn’t get away with that behavior, either. Yes, Brown is an excellent school. You should ask them whether or not they think they’d get away with this sort of obnoxious behavior in Providence and see what they say. Ignorants Abroad. - PB]

   Comment by Unitalian — August 17, 2008 #

2. Everybody is so excited here in BCN about the movie… Of course Woody had all the advantages and privileges to shoot the film here. We do speak Catalan in Catalonia (if not here, where else?). BTW here the movie will be dubbed into Catalan, not into Spanish, so nobody will notice that they speak Spanish in the original version unless they read their lips. Of course, neither Bardem nor Cruz are Catalans, but who cares.

   As for us being Spanish or not… You know that this is a hot issue. Actually it’s just 20% of the population that would support full independence, but almost nobody wants to remain dependent on Madrid either, which is seen as a backward and conservative city with too many politicians, media preachers and civil servants who have a difficulty with cultural and linguistic diversity. Many people would be satified with some sort of federation of states similar to the US or Germany.

   (P.S.: There is a rumour that Woody wanted to make Bardem… a matador! Being a fiercely anti-bullfighting city (the local bullfight place is supported economically mostly by foreign tourists) and disliking Spanish tourist clichés, apparently somebody from the City Hall warned Allen that he had to give up the idea if he wanted to get any money for his movie, so Bardem became a painter… Nobody has denied the rumour in really convincing terms.)

   [Hi Jaume!! I thought of you when I saw the film… when I found out that Allen had his film financed in Europe I thought, “Of course, no wonder he panders so to European prejudices about Americans” — not that those are all untrue, of course. I was pretty galled by his total failure to use or mention the Catalan language, as though no one would notice! Just another example of American ignorance and ego — “oh, this takes place in Spain, let’s just ignore this huge issue of Catalan identity and independence, even though my main character is supposed to be getting an advanced degree on the subject!! The city looks beautiful in the film, though, and I’m SO glad that Bardem’s character was made a painter rather than a matador, which would have been a really stupid idea — and as you say, especially in Barcelona! - PB]

   Comment by Jaume — August 17, 2008 #

3. Oh whew re: the bullfighting. Matadors are beautiful, too bad about that whole torturing of the bull part. I just cannot tolerate it. I can’t wait to see this movie; I love Javier Bardem. And truly, PB - she leaves both Bardem and Cruz? You’re right, that don’t make no kinda sense.

   And does anyone know what brand of hyperbaric chamber Cruz is using? I know she’s only 34, but she looks the same as when I first saw her in Abre los Ojos ten years ago.

   As for Catalan politics, I don’t expect Allen to go into that. He made all those movies set in NY and never bothered with any wider issues.

   Comment by h sofia — August 17, 2008 #

4. Thanks for the review, PB. My husband and I saw it last night, and loved it. We differed on the effectiveness of the narration. Robert thought it was interesting and well-written. I thought it was well written, but something bothered me - it sometimes seemed clunky and obvious, like we were seeing the pages of the script he meant to film but couldn’t figure out how. In writing class lingo, he told rather than showed his ideas. Any opinions out there, in Peacebang world? [I thought the narration track should have been taken out and shot. Just as you said: SHOW, don’t TELL. It’s a visual medium, for pedro’s sake. Especially in that upper-middle-class East Coast snot voice, droning on and on in every frlippin’ scene!!! But for that narration track I probably would have enjoyed the film a lot more, and been able to better tolerate Allen’s typically stilted dialogue — which sounds particularly pretentious coming out of the mouth of someone like ScarJo. It suited Rebecca Hall’s character just fine; Johansson’s not at all. Bardem and Cruz were probably electrifying and hilarious primarily because they were allowed to ad lib their own dialogue in Spanish. - PB]

   Comment by Rev. Gidget — August 18, 2008 #

5. I want to see it, but probably won’t get to. My lover can’t abide Woody Allen.

   I also caught a whiff of faux lesbianism used to build male audience intrigue, which is neither illegal nor unethical, but it does annoy me.

   Is that what it boils down to, PB? faux lesbianism included to keep The DudesTM engaged?

   Comment by Cindy — August 19, 2008 #

6. I saw Rebecca Hall as Rosalind in a stage production of “As You Like It” and she was terrific.

   Comment by Laura Dickerson — August 29, 2008 #

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